Just wondering what other USA teams do insofar as breaks during the year. When I grew up, depending on what meets you qualified for, I remember taking off from mid-April until about mid-May. The next break was usually early August until Labor Day.
The team that my son swims on does not take a break. Is that what other USA teams do these days or do most still take at least a couple week break once or twice a year?
Mine is just about to turn 11, so I'm building in breaks for him as I recognize the need. Since mid-August, he has only had a one week break when the pool was closed. He just finished his season as a 9-10 year old, so I'm letting him skip this week and play basketball in our backyard.
I'm curious to hear if and when other programs work in breaks.
Parents
Former Member
Breaks depend on which group you're in.
The more elite USAS swimmers take less time off Christmas/Thanksgiving but have more time off after their championships. They are on reduced schedules in Mar/Apr and Aug/Sep (no 2-a-days, more practices are designated optional instead of mandatory).
Our regular pool closes on many school holidays including a week for spring break and 2 weeks in August.
We would not be able to fit the entire team into alternate facilities so the elite/performance groups get first dibs on lanespace.
The younger kids would have poor attendance during the holidays and breaks so they can do family things so generally alternate facilities aren't arranged. Masters can be the same way. It allows the coaches to get a little downtime too.
It is annoying that the USMS championships (zones, Natls) come after our 1-week spring break pool closure and around our 2-week August shutdown. Generally the Masters that are swimming these meets will have to find somewhere to train on their own for a week. We've tried to set up alternate Masters practices and sometimes only one swimmer would show up.
The newer folks on the team have a tough time understanding full dues on months where we take breaks. It simplifies billing and budgeting for a year-round program both for parents and for the team. The pool rent is the same each month, as are the coach salaries. Dues are just set as 1/12 of the income needed towards annual team expenses.
When I was growing up, our AAU team only trained May-Jul. HS season was Sep-Nov for girls, Nov-Feb for boys. There was a very recreational YMCA team Sep-Feb. There was no organized USMS team but sometimes adults would go to AAU meets. So we had very long breaks. It was hard to get into the sport age 15 on those schedules.
Breaks depend on which group you're in.
The more elite USAS swimmers take less time off Christmas/Thanksgiving but have more time off after their championships. They are on reduced schedules in Mar/Apr and Aug/Sep (no 2-a-days, more practices are designated optional instead of mandatory).
Our regular pool closes on many school holidays including a week for spring break and 2 weeks in August.
We would not be able to fit the entire team into alternate facilities so the elite/performance groups get first dibs on lanespace.
The younger kids would have poor attendance during the holidays and breaks so they can do family things so generally alternate facilities aren't arranged. Masters can be the same way. It allows the coaches to get a little downtime too.
It is annoying that the USMS championships (zones, Natls) come after our 1-week spring break pool closure and around our 2-week August shutdown. Generally the Masters that are swimming these meets will have to find somewhere to train on their own for a week. We've tried to set up alternate Masters practices and sometimes only one swimmer would show up.
The newer folks on the team have a tough time understanding full dues on months where we take breaks. It simplifies billing and budgeting for a year-round program both for parents and for the team. The pool rent is the same each month, as are the coach salaries. Dues are just set as 1/12 of the income needed towards annual team expenses.
When I was growing up, our AAU team only trained May-Jul. HS season was Sep-Nov for girls, Nov-Feb for boys. There was a very recreational YMCA team Sep-Feb. There was no organized USMS team but sometimes adults would go to AAU meets. So we had very long breaks. It was hard to get into the sport age 15 on those schedules.
